Ilarie Voronca

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Ilarie Voronca (actually Eduard Marcus ) (born December 31, 1903 in Brăila , Romania , † April 5, 1946 (suicide) in Paris ) was a Romanian-French poet, prose writer and essayist. He is considered one of the most important theorists of the Romanian avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century.

life and work

Ilarie Voronca on a drawing by Robert Delaunay

As a child of a Jewish family, he first studied law in Bucharest . Early on he joined the modernist group of the literary society Sburătorul around Eugen Lovinescu . His first publication was literary in 1922 in Sburătorul . One year later he increasingly oriented himself towards the Manifesto of Modernism, and in the following years he published his own poetry and theoretical essays in the avant-garde literature magazines Contimporanul , Punct and Integral . In 1924 he published the constructivist magazine 75 HP (= 75 PS) together with Stephan Roll .

In 1927 he published his first lyric book Colomba , named after his wife Colomba Voronca. This marked his change of style towards surrealism . Other publications followed in the following years, including Ulise (1928, Ulysses), Plante și animale (1929, plants and animals), Zodiac (1930) Brățara nopților (1930, bracelet of nights), Incantații (1931, proclamations) and Petre Schlemihl (1932, Peter Schlemihl).

In 1933 Voronca moved to Paris, where from then on he wrote in French, including: Ulysse dans la cité (1933, Ulysses in the city), La joie est pour l´homme (1936, Joy is for people), L ' Apprenti fantôme (1938) Beauté de ce monde (1940, The beauty of the world), Souvenirs de la planète Terre (1945, memories of the planet earth). Some of his books are illustrated by Constantin Brâncuși , Victor Brauner and Marc Chagall .

During the Second World War, Voronca, who had been a French citizen since 1938, was active in the Resistance . During a visit to Romania in January 1946, he was celebrated for these activities and for his work.

During his work on Manuel du parfait bonheur (Instructions for Perfect Happiness), he locked himself in his kitchen on the night of April 4th to 5th, 1946, took an overdose of sleeping pills in combination with alcohol, opened the gas pipes and died of the Consequences of this second suicide attempt.

Many of his works were republished in France and Romania after his death. Among other things, a collection by Sașa Pană in Romania was published in 1972 . In contrast, it is almost unknown in German-speaking countries. Only the texts of the Romanian avant-garde 1907-1947 , in 1988 with Philipp Reclam jun. published in Leipzig, contain translations of some of his poems and two essays.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Voronca, Ilarie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marcus, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Romanian-French poet, prose writer and essayist
DATE OF BIRTH December 31, 1903
PLACE OF BIRTH Brăila , Romania
DATE OF DEATH April 5, 1946
Place of death Paris , France